Lapageria
rosea 'Flesh Pink'
Exacting in its
requirements, needs cool moist acid soil in shade, absolutely
hates direct sun for any length of time. The flowers in this
cultivar are a beautiful shade of shell pink and show up well
against the dark leathery evergreen leaves, they are large and
waxy. In flower from July through to March. Due to its flowering
period and the fact that new growth can be frost damaged it needs
a sheltered wall (min -4c), or grow it down the shady end of the
conservatory as I do.
The species comes
from Chile where its both endangered and the national flower. It
was introduced around 1847. The seedling which became Lapageria
'Flesh Pink' was in a tray of seedlings given to Rennie Moffat of Penheale in Cornwall
by E. B. Anderson. Who had in turn had got the seed from Magellan
in Chile where it had been wild collected from a white plant.
Rennie named this and Lapageria 'Beatrix
Anderson' (a spotted red variety from wild collected red
plant) . unfortunately there is also a Chilean cultivar called
Flesh Pink (but this is a quite different plant)
|